Forum:You say "bookmark", I say "favorite", she says "Rate this article"
How many ways can you think of to keep track of pages that you rate highly enough to want to either visit again or recommend to another visitor to the ? # Well there is always your browser's own bookmark or favorites system. # Another method that is completely local to your PC is to drag the favicon from your browser's address bar into a folder on your desktop and save a bunch of shortcuts under some sensibly named directory. Of course neither of these first two methods allow you to share your opinion with other visitors to the wiki. # All wikia hosted articles have a 5-star Rate this article voting system accessible from the page footer area. That is a controversial system because after you have rated an article there is no way for you to track down which articles you gave 5 stars to and which article you gave a 1 star rating. What is perhaps worse is that even after some community member revises a low-rated article to improve it's content or presentation the old votes on that article remain in effect so it begs the question: "Does that system help to improve the quality of wiki articles and/or reward well written articles? ... I think the jury is still out deliberating on that verdict! # The Bookmark widget is accessible from the , the page or the Manage widgets link behind the MORE ↓ navigation button at the right-hand end of the top-of-page navigation menu (just left of the Log out link). The bookmark widget does allow you to keep a short list of links to various favorite pages handy in your left-hand navigation bar. It is probably useful for up to 10 or so links but becomes a little clumsy after that. Also there is no way for a visitor to know how popular an article is based on how many users before them have bookmarked the article. Something better is needed! # Finally we have a system unique to the and it has been named the '"Favorites"' system. It emulates the essential features of the "Rate this article" and the Bookmark widget to guide newcomers to those articles which are popular among prior visitors but also to give each (registered) user a handy list of links to their favorite wiki articles at the . Instead of a 5-star weighted vote the "Favorites" system simply gives one vote to each user. If you add an article to your "Favorites" then your single vote is added to the tally for that article and the info-box for that page (usually a boat model, skin, track or host) will be displayed as a simple popularity indicator. You can remove or add your vote at any time and thereby respond to the efforts by conscientious contributors to improve the quality of each wiki article. You cannot abuse the vote of another user. To use the favorites system you must first create a user name and then leave a simple hello message at the "Nautigals and Buoys" forum. This will set up your user page with a (empty) table of your favorite wiki articles. As you find an article worthy of adding to your favorites you use the Manage favorites link to simultaneously give that article your user vote as well as add it to your list of favorites on your . The Wiki Page widget has been designed to make that Manage Favorites link available for any page at the wiki. For instructions to add that widget to your left-hand navigation bar see the Members category. enjoy! --najevi 01:17, October 22, 2009 (UTC)